One of the principal disadvantages of wheat bread, i.e. bread in which the flour component consists predominantly of wheat flour or meal, is that the bread (e.g. white bread) has a relatively short shelf life, i.e. can be stored for only a short time after baking because the bread tends to lose moisture rapidly, to dry out and become unstable or unpalatable. As a result, large quantities of bread can be wasted or rendered unfit for human consumption so that other and less advantageous uses must be found for the product.
It is known to increase the moisture retentivity of commonly manufactured wheat breads by adding potato flour to the wheat meal. The potato flour is generally digested potato flakes formed by digesting flesh of the potato and flaking the flour in flaking meal or on flaking rolls.
However, the addition of potato flour to the dough increases the starch content of the bread and this may be disadvantageous. Thus, while the presence of the potato product in the bread increases the moisture retentivity thereof, thereby augmenting the storage life and the duration following baking for which the bread may be consumed, the use of potato flour is frequently disadvantageous.
Mention should also be made of the fact that any attempt to modify a bread composition must operate against the habits and customs of the people for whom the bread is intended and hence a serious change of the texture, appearance or taste of the bread may result in its rejection in spite of the fact that it is both nutritious and stable for long periods. For example, the nourishment habits of people, especially with respect to essential foods or the stable foods of a particular society, are based upon traditions and conventions so that consumers tend to adhere to conventional products and do not readily turn to even more nourishing, palatable and stable products. Thus, where wheat breads are the stable bread product of a society, efforts to substitute other grains in bread moisture have generally failed.
Since the vegetation period of wheat is relatively long, the risks to bread production in a society depend upon wheat as the basic bread flour. Particularly sensitive to crop failure, for example, even a single crop failure of a crop such as wheat with a long growing time, will create significant problems in the bread supply to the populace.
From the foregoing it will be apparent that there are a number of reasons why it would be advantageous to replace at least a part of the wheat-meal requirements for wheat bread production by another substance, which, however, should not significantly alter the texture, appearance, taste and palatability of the bread, but which will at least partly eliminate dependency upon highly sensitive wheat crop and at the same time improve the moisture retentivity and hence the shelf life of a bread.
Numerous attempts have been made to replace wheat flours in a bread by corn flour (maize) or to substitute corn meal for part or all of the wheat flour customarily used. However, corn meal products have the characteristic taste which has been imparted heretofore to the bread and in spite of the fact that corn appears to be most advantageous because of the high grain yield of a corn crop, its excellent food value and ability to use its stalks for fodder, the products did not receive widespread acceptance in those parts of the world heretofore dependent on the wheat breads. Furthermore, the properties of those breads which included corn meal were in many cases disadvantageous relative to the corresponding properties of a wheat bread.